


In my blood (the smallest price to pay)

by birthtwinss



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Cults, Mild Blood, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27188713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birthtwinss/pseuds/birthtwinss
Summary: Jeno doesn't want more people to disappearToo bad it is not up to him.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28
Collections: NCT Spookfest 2020





	In my blood (the smallest price to pay)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, dear strangers! Here I offer you some dark norenmin. Honestly this was kind of haunting me all day and since Halloween is just around the corner...bear with me!

For Jeno, night walks have proven effective when he cannot sleep. 

It becomes a problem after the third body is found and the police recommend people to not leave their houses past 7pm.

“You shouldn’t be outside at this hour!” Jeno shouts to the small figure, walking alone in the deserted streets. As the person walks closer, Jeno can see it’s a boy, probably his age, wearing a blue sweatshirt about three sizes too big for his slender frame. He has dark prominent eyes and pale skin, both glowing in the dark, under the dim light of the street lamps.

The boy pretends not to listen and keeps walking, but Jeno sees the way his body shakes as he passes by his side. “It’s dangerous, you know? People keep disappearing.” Jeno doesn’t get a response. Instead, the boy walks away and disappears around the corner.

The fourth victim is found days later, blood drained from his body, the stellar headline on the cover page of the town’s newspaper. 

Night walks also serve Jeno to breathe fresh air and ease his cat-allergies symptoms.

The moon is at his highest and lurking shadows on the loose. Jeno doesn’t need to look at the watch on his wrist to know it’s pretty late, and he’s testing his luck.

He’s about to go back and slide into his bed as if he was never gone, when he hears light footsteps cutting through the silence. 

Jeno is surprised to see the same boy from the other night, carrying what looks like a heavy backpack. He’s breathing with difficulty, chest rising and falling. Alive.

“Please, stop tempting fate,” A smile plays on Jeno’s lips, “I’d hate to see you get hurt.”

The boy comes to a halt and shudders. “I can take care of myself.” His voice is elegant, pristine, unrestrained.

Jeno takes a step closer, “Do you want me to walk you home?” He offers, like the nice guy he’s supposed to be, a lesson well learned from his mom.

“You don’t know my name,” The boy shakes his head, “I don’t even know yours.”

So this is how it’s going to be. 

Jeno sticks out his hand and smiles, the way he knows his infamous crescent eyes will crinkle. “Lee Jeno.”

The boy doesn’t give a second look at him before walking away.

Guilt is such a human emotion. And he’s human, but he cannot afford it. So, in a way, does that make him less human? Or is it the fact that he’s staring right into someone’s horrified eyes, body lying still in the stone surface, without a trace of sympathy?

The feel of the hilt in his hand is familiar, almost comforting, and the moon

Everything is so familiar. The feeling of the hilt in his hand, almost comforting. The moon reflecting off the edge of the blade as he plunges the knife into the man’s heart with a well-practiced move. The other end of the knife sticking through the stone.

The ceremony ends as just as the sun rises, signaling a new beginning, a new opportunity.  
Hands dyed a crimson color, red dawn.

When Jeno meets the boy for the third time, he thinks he’s prepared. Too bad he didn’t count on the guy who walks alongside the boy.

“I’m starting to think you actually enjoy my company.” Jeno singsongs.

It’s the newcomer, chapped lips and perfect tousled dark hair and sharp eyes, who speaks. “And who would this be, Junie?” He smiles, sweet and dangerous, as he examines Jeno carefully, eyes travelling all over his body, sizing him up.

The boy, Junie, doesn’t seem like he wants to talk and drags his friend away.

Jeno doesn’t let him. “Lee Jeno.” He says hurriedly.

“I see,” The newcomer yanks his arm away from his friend’s hold and they glare at each other for a brief second before he walks closer to him, “And how do you know Renjun?”

“We talked before.” Jeno hums, “Twice.”

“Oh,” The guy turns to see Renjun, who refuses to look at them, “Well, I didn’t know he had such a cute friend.”

Jeno feels himself blushing and prays for it not to be so obvious. 

“Once,” Renjun says curtly in Jeno’s direction. “We barely talked once.” 

Jeno ums. Renjun is right. The first time Jeno did all the talking.

“And we are not friends, Jaemin,” Renjun continues, turning to his friend. There’s something Jeno can’t recognize in his voice, sounds like urgency, a plea.

Jaemin ignores it, giving a hard look to Renjun. “That’s a pity.” He hums, “We should do something about it, don’t you think?”

“Come on, it’s getting late. We need to go home soon.” Renjun steps in one last time and the two friends exchange a look, reaching an unspoken agreement. 

“I beg you to forgive Renjun, he’s a scaredy cat,” Jaemin lets out a brittle laugh, “Always following the rules, always so careful.” 

Renjun gives him a dirty look and starts walking.  
“But he’s right. It’s late now.” With one last smile, Jaemin bids goodbye to Jeno and follows Renjun

Renjun and Jaemin are both two sides of the same coin, Jeno will come to know later.

He starts with small cuts, making sure he prolongs the suffering, that the body endures it all for the night. The girls stopped crying a long time ago.

Surrender slowly to the pain.

His mind wanders to another face, someone completely else, and his hands twitch, too much blood leaks out of the wound.

His mother gives him a disapproving look. Not so deep.

“Our parents are friends,” Jaemin says simply when Jeno asks him how he became friends with Renjun. “So we grew up together. We know each other pretty well, you know”

“Don’t say that.” Renjun makes a disgusted face, “And stop giving information to a stranger.”

Jeno should feel hurt, but the truth is that all the sharp remarks and reluctant looks are a lot less frequent. Renjun was warming up to him.

Renjun walks ahead of them, like he always does. “He is cute, isn’t he?” Jaemin says, the adoration in his voice is impossible to conceal, “Especially when he’s mad.”

Jeno’s brows knitted. “Are you-- are you guys together?”

“We will always be.” A sided look from Jaemin is enough to understand how stupid his question is, “Doesn’t mean we cannot welcome someone else.” They lock their eyes and Jaemin lets his lips curl upwards, an inviting smile.

Renjun turns back in his heels to glare at them.  
Jaemin blows him a kiss and smiles at Jeno, their hands brushing together.

For a series of different reasons, he can’t get out. Once you are in, you can’t get out.  
Play your part masterly. There’s no place for guilt.

Over the past few weeks, Jeno has kind of established a kind of routine with Renjun and Jaemin.

Renjun leaves the radio station where he works as a night DJ, and Jaemin picks him up once he finishes his shift at the coffee shop. They meet Jeno on their way home.

“We can seldom leave the house alone,” Renjun complains, “Our parents are freaked out by the recent events.”

“Yeah, I understand.” Jeno mutters, “The police are doing their best to catch this person. Don’t worry.” He assures him.

Jeno caresses Renjun’s back when he notices the chills that run through his body

He makes a mistake. 

He gets distracted.

If it weren’t for the other people with him, things could have ended up badly. 

He only gets a few scratches.

When Jeno finally gets to kiss Renjun, he’s over the moon. He runs a fingertip down from Renjun’s cheek to his throat, the bare skin smooth and fragile. Renjun’s knees wobble and Jeno can feel the other’s body relaxing, melting in his arms. He might have a sharp tongue, but Renjun’s kisses are nothing but soft.

Jaemin is perhaps the opposite. Jaemin is hungry, leaving Jeno breathless. He presses his lips against Jeno’s pulsepoint, purrs at the vibrant movement. Jeno feels weak.

By the end of the night, Jeno’s lips are mortally swollen and red.

“Did you hear that?” A woman passes by, accompanied by a friend, waving a newspaper in her hand. “Finally a clue! The police obtained DNA from the murderer under the nails of the last victim.”  
The other woman lets out a loud sigh of relief.

“You sentenced him the moment you laid your eyes on him.”

Everything was too good to be true.

Renjun sees the marks in Jeno’s arms, a few scratches he got while playing with Bonsik, he tries to explain, but Renjun won’t hear him.

“Stay away from me!”, He screams, eyes filled with tears that threaten to spill, “Stay away from us! I beg you!”

He covers his mouth, stifling a sob. It breaks Jeno’s heart.

“I can’t let you go.”

Jaemin appears from nowhere and gives Jeno a sympathetic smile. “He doesn't know what he is saying.”

There aren’t exceptions. They don’t exist in his world. 

Not even for a loved one.

And tonight is a special night. The last of the month.

Jeno regains consciousness and he opens his eyes, confused. 

It’s dark, and it takes some time for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light.

Someone approaches him, someone wearing a large tunic dragging on the floor, someone with big gloomy eyes.

He looks pretty, just like the first time Jeno saw him. 

Jeno never noticed he looked dangerous as well.

“Why didn't you listen?”

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any thoughts or criticisms I'd be glad to hear them! [This is me on twitter!](https://twitter.com/birthtwinss?s=09)  
> There a couple of things I'm aware I still need to improve (dialogue has never been my forte) and I guess this is what I'm doing right here!  
> This is unbetaed so if there are some grammar, spelling mistakes I plead guilty!  
> Once more, thank you for reading!!
> 
> twt: @birthtwinss


End file.
